The Food Scarcity Heuristic: People Overestimate the Caloric Content of Scarce Foods

Julio Sevilla, University of Georgia USA Anthony Salerno, University of Cincinnati USA

Across three studies, we show that framing a food as scarce leads people to overestimate the number of calories it contains. This effect occurs because when exposed to a food perceived as scarce, participants feel deprived of resources, which leads them to overestimate the caloric content of the food.